Oh Sh!t - back twanged - squats

Had a "oh shit" moment this morning during my squats - warm up sets done OK but on the third rep of the main set as I was lowering I felt a nasty twinge in lower back and re-racked the weight - stretched and although I am not in any pain my mind/body has gone into protection mode - I was going to do the bench press after but once i had the warm up set done as I rose up to add weight while on the bench I just felt a ache - enough to bin the weights today and not likely to be rowing for a few days now - currently in hyper protection mode in terms of what I do for every day movements... FFS!

For anyone who has been in severe back pain they will know the fear of going back to it - I am literally terrified

Just a thirty and a dirty erg cleaned

Got back in at lunchtime for a 30r20 70% HRR - was feeling good at the start but got a little tired towards the end - still another 8k plus row so meters in the bank. On the way in I was talking to the manager and one of the instructors about getting a skierg - not keen - also mentioned starting up indoor rowing group akin to the spin classes - not keen - lol - but they did pop out towards the end of my session to clean the erg I don't use (as the drag only goes to 120 - well it did - it's clean now so hopefully be a lot better - shall find out tomorrow).


8,008m 1:52.3 r20 Ave HR 141 Max 148 (thinking about racing again lol)

4by2k r24 - messed it up ....

When you wake up at 5am and one of the first things that the brain works out it has in store is 4by2k r24 you really do wonder what is going on in my tiny brain lol

Still dogs walked and bags in the car into the gym and on the erg - 1km warm up then 4by2k 5r r24 last week I managed a target of 1:44.9 with no real problems so although we are supposed to be hitting a target based on a 30min TT time I felt the need to push a little bit - so I figured 1:43.9 should be OK - then I messed it all up..

2000 r24 6:55.8 1:43.9

2000 r24 6:55.2 1:43.8

2000 r24 6:54.6 1:43.6

2000 r24 6:51.6 1:42.9

AM Weights - PM 30r20 70% HRR + 500m Controlled

in the gym this morning and went through the Tuesday weights routine with an increase in the weights for the main piece - so

5 min warm up on bike and some stretches

Squat - Barx5, 50kgx4, 65kgx3, 70kgx2, 80kgx1

           85kgx5x3

Overhead Press - Barx5, 15kgx4, 20kgx3, 25kgx2, 30kgx1

           35kgx5x3

Deadlift  - Barx5, 65kgx4, 70kgx3, 80kgx2, 90kgx1

           100kgx1

(all the above are using the olympic bar so total weight is weight plus 20 - eg deadlift is actually 120kg or 264lb)

Lat Pulldown 3x6x100kg

Lunchtime and I got in for a 30r20 70% HRR which I enjoyed - although it was quite funny as my mind drifted now and then to the possibility of racing which saw the HR spike by about 5 beats lol

Followed up by a 500m r32 target was 1:26.0 - got the power down early and tried to keep good length while controlling the rate

30r20 TT - need blinkers

Monday equals 30r20 bury yourself day - the plan was to start hard at sub 1:44 pace and then let it come up a little in the middle and then drive for home - plan started well - got to the 6 minute mark and felt just about right on the "feck am I gonna make it" pace guideline - then a chap got on the erg next to me (and they are close together) and proceeded in the ski-jump format of rowing ... although I tried to block it out it was just to close and lost my rhythm and to add to that I could see traces of my sweat and snot going in his direction if I wasn't careful so had to try and keep a lid on that - led to a greater slow down than intended but on the positive I stuck with it and gained 17m on last week lol - OK so that might have come from the final few strokes .....

60r20 70% HRR - rather encouraging

Monday morning tiredness today and although part of me wanted to stay in bed instead of getting up and going to the gym that wasn't going to put me in a good mood for the rest of the day nor week so up I got - dogs walked - drove into the gym and got set for 60r20 70% HRR - set up the c-breeze which seems to take so long at that time in the morning and of I went - felt a little sluggish and took me a while to get into it but all went well and pretty encouraged to see that this row at 1:53.1 pace 15,906m is only 146m behind a 60r20 from september 30th - but that was at 80% HRR!

So for reference - today - HR Max 146 and Ave 142 TE 2.4
and in September for 146m more - HR Max 160 and Ave 151 TE 3.5

lunchtime 30r20 70% HRR

HR Max 148 Ave 139 - 1:52.2 - 8,015m -

Punch the Power - 8by2:30 r20 full frontal video of last rep lol

Well today's session - done early as wouldn't have time in a lunch break - was 8 by 2m30s rating 20 with 3 minute 30 rest - have to admit the rest was maybe a little long for me - or maybe I didn't push hard enough early on?

Two reasons I didn't push earlier is a) lower back a little tender at mo b) no idea where to pace this (haven't done these in a long while) c) it was frickin early lol I figured somewhere between 1:35 and 1:40 would be a good place for the pace after a 1k with bursts at rate warm up I opted for 1:40 and to be honest in the first two I thought that was about spot on. After the third I obviously needed to negative split the rest - the 7th went quite well so on the 8th I thumped it (while keeping control)

2:30.0 750m 1:40.0 20

2:30.0 750m 1:40.0 20

2:30.0 750m 1:40.0 20

2:30.0 751m 1:39.8 20

2:30.0 752m 1:39.7 20

2:30.0 753m 1:39.6 20

2:30.0 757m 1:39.0 20

 2:30.0 779m 1:36.2 20  

AM Weights - PM short stuff - incl 1 min r20 almost sub 1:30...

5 min warm up on bike and some stretches

Squat - Barx5, 45kgx4, 50kgx3, 55kgx2, 60kgx1
           80kgx5x3

Flat Bench Press - Barx5, 35kgx4, 40kgx3, 45kgx2, 50kgx1
           55kgx5x3

Power Clean  - Barx5, 35kgx4, 40kgx3, 45kgx2, 50kgx1
           55kgx5x3 (did have 60kg on but couldn't shift it for even one rep lol)

Seated Cable Row 3x8x91kg (maxed out the stack on the machine)

At lunch I was delayed by traffic so really hadn't the time to do much - so did a few 100m's then a couple of 200m's and finished with some 1 minute r20 - still trying to get that sub 1:30 - missed by 1 meter on the second one!!